The sound of the doorbell dragged Finn's attention off his crystal ball.
He was just about to get up and scale the surprisingly long staircase to the front door when he remembered that he now possessed Kobold servants that were happy to do his bidding. The dragon instead snapped his fingers, removing the scent of draconic musk and cleaned the table and floor of any discarded food and dust.
Then the dragon settled himself into position at the head of the table, the crystal ball in front of him. He snapped his fingers, the table and himself shrinking to human-accessible size. There, that should be perfect.
"Mike!" the dragon shouted up the stairs, his voice booming in what he hoped was a commanding tone.
Claws pattered down the stairs. Not even 10 seconds later, a red scaled kobold leapt down the last step and scurried into the room. He sketched a quick bow.
"Yes master?" The little creature panted.
"Will you get the door?" Finn asked.
Mike gave the dragon a slightly pained expression, then nodded and ran back up the stairs.
Finn chuckled and shook his head. Kobolds.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Finn’s lair was a huge basalt rock formation that thrust through the comparatively flat earth in the middle of the suburbs just outside of town.
They parked at the curb and then made their way through the gate of a comically quaint white picket fence gate that guarded the entrance.
Jess shook out her long red hair, the pretty young woman brushing off her capris and adjusting her tank top and grabbed the bag with everyone’s character sheets and backstories, handing it over to Jerry. Jerry was a thin young man with short black hair and was wearing a shirt with a D20 on it, just to let the dragon know that he was here to play and not be eaten. Hugo came last, the husky young man scratching his curly chestnut hair and adjusted his glasses. He’d worn a button-up and shorts along with his best pair of running shoes. Just in case.
They made themselves presentable and then turned to look at the doorway.
The huge onyx doors at the entrance of the lair towered over the three humans. Their sheer size radiated an authority that invariably made the group feel small and powerless. Hugo thought it looked rather foreboding, and said as much, but Jess just snorted and rang the doorbell.
They waited for someone to answer the very modern-looking ring buzzer.
"Are you sure this is such a good idea?" Hugo whispered to the other two, brushing his long black hair out of his eyes. "What if this is some sort of scheme? We'd be dragon-food!"
"Don't be silly. You know that this dragon is a respected citizen. Besides, my friend Callum says this dragon prefers pizza over people. He works as a delivery driver at the-" Jerry's reply was cut short as the door opened, sliding silently into the sides of the giant basalt rock formation.
Expecting the visage of a large dragon, the three humans were surprised to be greeted by a small, red scaled Kobold.
"How can Mike serve you?" The kobold yapped.
Jess took a step forward. "Umm... we're here for the campaign. We saw an ad for it at the store."
"Aaaaah this will make Master happy. Come! Come! Follow Mike!" Mike The Kobold waved the trio through the door enthusiastically.
As they entered, Hugo threw one last glance behind them to the relatively normal suburban neighborhood beyond the entrance before the doors slid shut by themselves.
The lair was huge, with carved basalt tiled floors and a cavernous ceiling supported by thick basalt columns and polished basalt walls. There was furniture sized for dragons and furniture for kobolds, a large modern-looking kitchen and a small alcove for the kobolds to dine. In the center of the room, where Mike was guiding the group, lay a huge staircase that descended deep into darkness, the way lit by torches. Far below was a cavernous room, barely visible form where they were standing.
“This way!’ Mike yapped happily.
Cautiously, the group descended the stairs.
At the bottom, the stairs opened up into an enormous cavern. There was an absolutely gigantic TV made out of hundreds of monitors on one wall, playing an episode of Game of Scones with the sound off. Everyone loved the award-winning show about a British family vying for the head of the table at the Queen’s tea parties. It was so bloody and dramatic!
Off in one corner was an enormous bed made of a quilt of a dozen or so blankets and huge pillows stuffed with something squashy. In the middle of the room was a single large table with a crystal ball in the center. At the head of the table was a… strangely small dragon.
He was regal enough, with polished red scales that gleamed in the torchlight and rather intimidating horns. Somehow, though, the table and the dragon seemed smaller than they should have been. The friends stepped forward as the dragon rose to greet them.
“Hello, new players!” The dragon’s long, draconic neck swayed left and right in a clear display of excitement. “My name is Finn! I’m a professional DM, and I’m so happy you responded to my invitation!”
There was a gleam in his eyes that Hugo thought wasn’t quite right, but Jess and Jerry both seemed positively enthralled with the majestic creature.
"Sit. Sit down!" Finn motioned the three friends to the table upon which the crystal ball was resting.
Jess and Jerry were quick to move, looking around the room with clear awe on their faces. Reluctantly, Hugo followed. The other two were no doubt taken aback by the display of excitement from the real, live dragon to question anything yet.
Hugo couldn’t help but notice that Finn seemed to be so excited that the dragon even bothered to ask for their names yet.
Jess sat down at the closest seat to the door, which was unfortunate, since that had been Hugo’s first pick in case the dragon decided to eat them. Jerry slid into a chair near her and away from the dragon. Not out of spite for Finn, Hugo guessed, but because Jerry had a crush on her and always sat right next to her.
With a sigh, Hugo sat down closest to the dragon and discovered that the seats, as well as the table, were made of a single piece of a dark, hard stone that was smooth as glass to the touch. He was baffled, as he remembered reading about it. Volcanic glass, also known as onyx and obsidian, just like those smoky doors upstairs. It must have cost a fortune to acquire even a single piece of obsidian of this size.
He spared at glance at Jess and Jerry.
They seemed just as occupied by the surrounding furniture. Jerry in particular seemed to have trouble finding a comfortable position in his seat. No doubt, the prestige of authentic obsidian did come with some shortcomings in the comfort department. Hugo sat still despite the growing pain in his rear, determined not to show weakness in front of the large, certainly carnivorous (if the fangs were anything to go by) creature.
"You! Small one!" The dragon's visage was focused on Jess.
“Um, yes?” Jess’s voice came out with a slight squeak.
"Show me your character sheet!" Finn commanded.
Jess stood up from her chair and reached over the enormous table to hand the dragon her sheet.
"Why thank you!" Finn snatched the sheets of paper from her hand. They were comically small in his huge claws. He pulled a pair of reading glasses, perched them at the tip of his snout and began reading them. His draconic lips mouthed the words. He carefully thumbed through them with the tips of his pointy claws. "Hmmm hmm! Very interesting! Very intruiging! This is a well thought-out backstory. I can work with that!" The dragon was visibly excited, his tail slapping the floor. "Nice to meet you, Iridel!"
Jess looked surprised that the dragon was calling her by her character’s name and opened her mouth to correct him before the dragon spoke again. This time his withering gaze was directed at Hugo. Hugo swallowed back his fear.
"Now let's see your sheet." Finn stretched out a claw for Hugo to put the papers into.
Hugo and the dragon’s gazes met and he thought Finn’s body tensed for just a moment as Hugo glared back at him unflinchingly.
“I’m Hugo.” Hugo said.
“I know.” The dragon said softly. “Do you want to play with me or not, Hugo?”
Hugo studied the dragon for a moment, then nodded and handed over his sheet. As the dragon read through them, his excitement was a little more muted than it had been with Jess. It was more than a little insulting, honestly. It might not have been as fleshed out, but certainly good enough for most DMs.
"This is good. You made a few mistakes when filling out the stats, but I'm sure I can make that work regardless. Welcome to the party Copper!"
The damn dragon had used his character’s name too! Hugo threw a questioning glance to Jess, who only shrugged back at him. He shifted in his seat, annoyed and unable to find a comfortable position.
"Let me see the last one!" Finn was addressing Jerry now.
With confidence, the pale young man handed his papers over to the dragon.
Hugo sighed. Jerry was almost certainly going to re-use the same character he always played. Honestly, now this would make three different campaigns where Janus the wizard would be participating in. Like, seriously, why did he always get to play the wizard? Let someone else have a shot.
"What is that?!" The dragon growled with a look of disapproval. "A human? Didn't you read the advert?! I explicitly stated that we would be running an anthro campaign setting!"
Hugo glanced up in surprise. Jerry’s well-written character and backstory hadn’t passed muster because of THAT little detail? Surely just a minor species swap would fix it. But the dragon was looking at his friend with a furious expression in his slitted eyes.
Jerry sunk into his seat. "I... I didn't know it would be such a big problem. Humans are animals, right?”
“Humans just won't work within the lore of this world. They've all gone extinct.” Finn explained.
“Oh.” Jerry said, “But my character is creative, right?”
“‘Human male, college-age, thin, black hair, 1,80m tall’ is hardly creative character design.” Finn stared at the thin, college aged, black haired, 1,80m tall human across from him pointedly.
Hugo and Jess giggled.
Jerry crossed his arms and exhaled sharply thought his nose.“Look ,I can best relate to a character that looks like me. But wait, at least my backstory is good, right?”
“It says you’re on a mission to steal a dragon egg to become a full-fledged wizard. You do realize that full-fledged wizards die to dragons all the time, right? Is that really a good way to test someone for any licensed wizarding school?”
“Um…maybe just a rare herb.”
“Better,” Finn nodded, flicking his claws.
The backstory altered, words sizzling into existence, overwriting what had been written on the sheet. It was a blatant display of magic that left the entire group awestruck.
“There,” Finn looked up to see the three friends’ mouths hanging open. “What? It’s just Prestidigitation. You’ll be able to do that spell too all day long, Janus.”
“Uh…” Jerry stared at the dragon.
“Moving on…we need to pick a species for you. You’ll have to think of an anthro species or I'll just have to roll one randomly." Finn made a shrugging motion with his draconic arms, as if saying that he had no power over this part of the setting.
Hugo watched Jerry thinking. He knew Jerry wasn’t much into furries, or anthros for that matter. The guy wasn’t all that creative either. Whenever he had to make choices, Jerry tended to freeze up. Analysis paralysis, as they say.
They all waited, Finn clearly growing more impatient by the second, Jerry squirming under the draconic gaze, though Hugo wasn’t sure if Jerry was uncomfortable from the dragon putting him on the spot or the very unpleasant seating.
“Make him a dog,” Jess spoke up.
“What?” Jerry asked.
“A dog! Let’s say…Border Collie. I think it really suits your personality, Jerry!’ Jess grinned innocently at Jerry.
Hugo saw Jerry’s face scrunch as he attempted to figure out if it she had said that as an insult or as a compliment. Jerry looked at Hugo for help. Hugo considered letting him stew, but the dragon was growing more and more agitated by the moment.
“Border Collie.” Hugo nodded.
“Alright,” Jerry said, turning to Finn, “Go ahead and make Janus a Border Collie, Mr. Dragon…”
“Finally!” Finn clapped his scaly claws together, eager to get things moving. “Welcome to the party, Janus!”
“You can call me Jerry. Janus is just my character’s name.” Jerry said firmly, finally raising the point that Hugo and Jess had wanted to make.
“Oh, sorry, my mistake,” Finn chuckled, rubbing the back of his scaly head in embarrassment. “I was wondering why you were all acting so agitated. We use character names in here.”
“Why?” Hugo asked.
“It helps get you into character. Like being forced to speak Spanish or French in foreign language classes to force you to learn the language faster. I’ve watched a few Viewtube videos on the topic.”
“How much roleplaying should we expect to do?” Hugo asked. “We haven’t exactly memorized the setting.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t worry about that. You’ll find playing your characters quite easy.” Finn replied.
With another wave of his claws, Janus’ sheet glowed as new sentences wrote themselves in and his species changed to Border Collie. Then he gathered all of their sheets and spoke a few words, twisting his claws. They flared and disappeared, swirling into the crystal ball on the table. He lightly tapped a claw against it and the crystal ball emitted a high-pitched *tink*.
The group watched in complete awe as the dragon casually used magic to destroy their sheets.
“Alright, all sheets have been uploaded into the simulation. Now..I bet you guys can hardly wait to begin the game.” The air around the dragon darkened eerily, his shadow stretching out behind him menacingly. “Last chance for you to get off this ride. Shake on it if you’re ready to go.”
Simulation?
Hugo was confused. He thought the dragon was DMing. Were they going somewhere? He eyed Finn with clear distrust.
The dragon lay his claw palm-side up on the table and motioned his guests to place their hands on it.
Without hesitation, Jerry and Jess piled their hands on top of the increasingly enormous dragon claw. They turned and looked at Hugo. Hugo swallowed, unsure of what, exactly, he was shaking on, but placed his hand on top of the dragon’s claw.
Nothing happened.
Hugo opened his mouth to ask what was supposed to happen now when an intense feeling of vertigo struck him. He found himself falling…falling..falling into the crystal ball. The world around him was swirling and shifting, the dragon’s cave twisting and reforming into something else, some kind of cobblestone road in the middle of the countryside.
Everything went dark.
-=-=-=--=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Finn watched the new players as they appeared in the simulated reality within the crystal ball with great interest.
Jess was the first to awaken on the side of the road. The red-haired girl rubbed her eyes, swaying groggily. She fell back onto the ground, staring up into the sky. Around her, Jerry and Hugo shakily got to their feet. They staggered over to her, clear concern evident in their eyes.
“What happened? Where are we?” Jess asked groggily, rubbing her head.
“No idea,” the human known as Jerry replied, dusting off his shirt. “We were in Finn’s cavern one second, and the next we woke up on this road.”
Hugo helped Jess to her feet. “Are you alright? You seem out of it.”
“I have no idea.My head feels weirdly tight.” She steadied herself on Hugo’s arm and looked around. “Something’s definitely off.”
Jerry was glaring at the pair, clearly jealous of Hugo receiving any attention from Jess. He scoffed and kicked the dirt, walking a couple yards down the road. When he looked up, his eyes widened.
“Guys!” Jerry said, getting his friend’s attention. “Look over there!”
The two turned, following the line of Jerry’s finger. Off in the distance was a thatched roof. It barely peeked over the treeline to the North.
“We should go check it out.” Jess said, “I think I need to lie down.”
Finn chuckled to himself.
The three new players were in his world, but they hadn’t fully materialized yet. As a result, they were merely passive observers, unable to influence the goings-on in the world. But this wouldn’t last for long. In a few more minutes, their forms would begin adjusting and the world around them would start to recognize them as parts of itself.
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
The friends hustled through the trees towards the building up ahead.
“Where are we? Did the dragon spike our drinks?” Jess asked.
“We never ate or drank anything,” Hugo pointed out.
“He can do magic. Maybe he put us to sleep and dumped us out in the country.” Jerry said.
“Dude, we have no idea how long we were out. We could be in Belgium for all we know.” Hugo snarled. “Dammit! I knew that dragon was sus!”
“Shh, we’re almost there,” Just waved a hand to the two boys.
They crept forward as they passed the treeline, emerging in a yard containing two buildings.
The main building was three stories tall, chimneys on the roof puffing white clouds of pleasant-smelling smoke. It was recognizably medieval in style, the walls wattle and daub. A wagon loaded with chests was pulled up near the front of the building. There was a sign with a bed and a mug of beer swinging over the doorway.
Off to the side was the other, longer building, this one filled with horses and giant lizards. Above the wide doorway was its own sign-that of a horseshoe.
Jerry was the quickest to make the connection.
“Guys, I think this is an inn and that building is the stables.” Jerry said, then swallowed, “So, uh, this might be hard to swallow, but I think we’ve been teleported to the game world.”
They peered into the windows of the inn.
Inside was a scene of a lively tavern. Guests were drinking and conducting more-or-less legal business, not unlike what one could find in a tavern on Earth. The most striking difference was, of course, that none of the guests were humans.
“Say, Hugo, do they look Belgian to you?” Jess snarked.
“Shut up, Jess.” Hugo rolled his eyes.
“Guys, shutup. What do we do now?” Jerry asked.
“I assume we have to go in, find our characters and control them.” Jess said with supreme confidence.
She marched towards the front door and tried to open it. It stuck. Jess gripped the handle tighter and tugged harder. Nothing. She checked the door and tried pushing. Nothing again. No matter how much she pushed or pulled on the door, it wouldn’t move an inch.
Jess stood back and paused for a moment, assessing the door. Reaching out her hand, she tried pushing it again. This time, the door did move by the slightest amount.
“Umm…Jess…” Hugo said, tapping her on the shoulder. “Jess?”
“What?” Jess wheeled on Hugo, annoyance and frustration clear in her voice. “I already tried pulling! It’s clearly a push door!”
“Jess! Your hands!” Jerry pointed.
Jess glanced down at her hands and stared at them.
Course white fur had sprouted on them, her fingernails curling into heavy claws that were clearly built for digging. They almost looked like badger’s paws. As if to confirm her theory, tough black pads puffed from her palms.
She took a step back, rolling up her sleeves and discovered that the fur was traveling up her arms with increasing speed.
"What in the hell? Fur?!" Jess turned to her friends, as if trying to get assurance that she wasn't going crazy. "Hugo?"
"I can see it, Jess what the fuck!" Hugo cried.
"No, Hugo! Your ears!" Jess jabbed a claw at Hugo’s head.
Hugo slowly brought his hands up to his ears. It took longer than it should, and he realized they were a lot higher up his head than he anticipated. His fingers finally found them. They were large, long, and fluffy. Very much exactly like enormous squirrel ears. He’d been so captivated by Jess' changes that he hadn’t noticed his own changes.
"Squirrel ears, badger paws…We're turning into our player characters!" Hugo couldn't believe it. "This has to be a bad dream or something!"
"I’m afraid that you're very much awake" Jess replied, feeling her own ears also going through similar alterations. They were moving to the top of her head, but shrinking and rounding in the process.
While the two were occupied with their new animal parts, Jerry was equally distracted by his own newly grown paws. They were white and furry, leathery pawpads puffing his palms. They were almost exactly like those of a dog - if that dog also had opposable thumbs.
"Wait a minute. If we're turning into our player characters, won't that mean I'll turn into a girl?!" Hugo's handpaws were now very much those of an anthropomorphic squirrel. He could feel his skin tingle as the fur travel up his sleeves towards the rest of his body
"T-try not to think about that." Jerry said, trying to comfort his friend. It wasn’t very effective as he was currently distracted by a pair of large, black, dog-like ears growing on his head.
"Being a girl is fine. Trust me. Argh..!" Jess gasped as the coarse badger fur spread over her body.
It felt like there were a thousand mosquito bites all over her body all at once. She panted and clawed at her skin, desperate for the itching stop. A few seconds later, it. Jess looked down and found her entire body was covered in fur. Her body was still mostly human, the black-and-white badger fur looking completely out of place.
Almost simultaneously, Hugo and Jerry were experiencing the same explosive fur growth, although the nature of their respective furs allowed for a much more tolerable experience.
Jess could only watch as it happened. But at the same time she noticed that she was going through even more changes herself. She was growing! The previously shortest member of the friend group’s spine popped and soon towered over both of her friends. As her frame broadened, she could feel her strength increase. Her muscles felt sore, like she had just gone through an intense workout. They spasmed and swelled thick and corded, muscles writhing under her dense pelt.
Due to her increasing height, she barely noticed as her legs shrunk, her body tall and stocky. What she did notice, however, were her arms growing thick with corded muscle. If her friends were not so occupied with their own changes, they would have seen the very comical visage of a badger with a human face.
Hugo sighed.
For a moment it looked like the changes had ceased after the red fur covered his body. Unfortunately, his relief turned out to be temporary as he was once again distracted by a growing pressure in the back of his spine.
"My back! Fuck!" Hugo gasped, his voice rising an octave as his spine began to extend.
Concurrently, Jerry was experiencing something very similar. A dull, painful pressure in the back of his spine told him that something there was aching to be released.
"Guys, I think I'm growing a t-" Jerry was interrupted by a loud ripping sound.
His hand flew to a nub pressing against the back of his very intact jeans. The rip hadn’t originated from his own backside. Looking to his left, he saw that Hugo was now sporting an enormous fluffy squirrel tail.
Had Jerry been more observant he would also have noticed that Hugo had shrunken by a few inches. Jerry did notice that the soon-to-be-squirrel was visibly exhausted by the sudden redistribution of body mass. He opened his mouth to say something and-
Another ripping sound and Jerry's tail suddenly saw the light of day.
Jerry was lucky that his much less impressive tail also required much less mass and proved to be a much less painful experience. Full of wonder, he used his paws to stroke through the fur of his newly grown appendage. He’d previously claimed to not have been into anthros, but somehow, having a tail felt very right to him. It was almost as if he’d had a tail his entire life.
Jess looked in bewilderment at her two companions as they slowly got used to their new appendages.
Looking behind herself, she noticed that she, too, had also grown a tail. It was currently wagging nervously underneath the fabric of her pants. She was surprised that she hadn’t even noticed the growth. Then again, her rather short badger tail, barely a foot length, wouldn't register as strongly as, for example, Copper's enormous squirrel tail.
Wait, did she just referred to her friend as Copper? She meant Hugo, of course. Jess paused, concerned with her brain fart. The badger brought a paw up to her face in frustration over her lapse of reasoning and she realized there was a strange pressure growing in her snout. With complete disbelief, she realized that her face was pushing out into a muzzle.
In the center of her vision, her nose turned black and leathery, nostrils flaring as it slowly got larger. Her eyes slowly spread apart. Her mouth felt strange, like her teeth were wriggling loose. Fortunately, her teeth were not falling out, instead they were being tugged around inside her mouth, slowly getting sharper. At the same time, her nose tingled. It felt like she was close to sneezing, but before she could find that release, the feeling was already subsiding. Her face had been stretched out into that of a rather homely badger woman, a sharp contrast to the feminine beauty she had entered the reality with.
Jess brought her claws up to her face and felt the strange and novel shape of her enormous snout.
Before she could explore her face more, a sharp pain flared across her muzzle. Jess yelped. It felt like a knife had been dragged over her face. As she crossed her eyes, she could blurrily notice a scar on the bridge of her nose. It was exactly like the one she had described on her character sheet.
Soon there no hint of Jess left, only Iridel, a fully-fledged barely female anthro badger.
Her clothes shifted and adjust to her new form, leather armor strapping itself in place, a red bandanna wrapping itself around her head, stamped with the yellow sigil of her clan. The bandanna signified that the wearer was the chief of her clan. Two curved scimitars in scabbards belted themselves across her back.
Next to the big, stocky badger woman, Copper was far from done with her changes.
The squirrel noticed her legs shorten, with her paws lengthening into claws that are more suited for climbing large trees. She gasped, voice rising higher as a gentle pressure pressed her genitals back into her body. Copper squirmed, her new pussy spasming, leaking fluids onto her pants as she experienced her first female orgasm. While pleasure radiated through her smaller body, her nipples swelled before the flesh beneath plumped as fat breasts ballooned out of her chest. As the pleasure faded, the former human realized he was now female.
And to Copper’s confusion, it felt right to be female.
In fact, she didn’t even feel the slightest bit panicked at the lost of her male organs. Memories of what having a cock would even feel like were fading from her mind. Could this be the character's personality taking over?
Copper save for her face, now almost fully a squirrel.
Then, suddenly, she felt a pressure in her face as well. She could feel her incisors grow large, perfectly suited for opening juicy nuts. The mere thought of nuts made her mouth water. Her face was pushing out while getting narrower. She noticed her field of view widen as her eyes traveled to the sides of her head and gained a darker tint. Very soon, the squirrel would be complete. Only a few more whiskers and that would be it.
Completely exhausted, Copper sat on the dusty ground, resigned and spent. Her mind filled with new memories of living as a bandit in the forest targeting travelers. Despite being new memories, they felt like ones she'd had her entire life. She could still distinguish them from Hugo's slowly fading memories. Which ones were really hers?
As she settled into her shorter, more curvy form, finger-less leather gloves wrapped themselves around her hands and feet, the better to aid her in climbing. Light leather armor, the same design as that of Iridel’s, strapped itself to her busty torso. A green poncho that shimmered and blended with the environment around her draped itself over the armor, the hood up, holes in the top allowing her fluffy ears to poke through.
Janus didn't nearly go through the same amount of changes in proportions as his travel companions.
Unfortunately for him, it didn’t mean he was spared either. His feet stretched, turning digitigrade and his haunches rounded. They looked like they were made for running, for herding sheep, not sitting idly, cooped up inside a lonely tower studying magic.
Should he have become a shepherd like his father instead of a wizard?
Wait, what was he thinking? His father wasn't a shepherd! Janus could feel his character’s personality slowly gain footing in his mind as his head began to ache. The headache turned into a pressure and the pressure into movement as his mouth and nose creaked forward into a canine muzzle. His lengthening tongue explored his sharpening teeth while his nose grew black and moist. He could feel his sense of smell heighten. The dog was suddenly able to smell every single guest in the nearby Tavern.
This was truly exciting!
Janus barely noticed himself finishing up as he explored his new sense of smell. His tail involuntarily wagged in excitement as his clothes shifted into a purple robe, an inverted V-cut in the back to allow his tail to move freely. A wand appeared on his belt and a spellbook strapped itself to his opposite hip.
The adventurers stared at each other for a few moments more before Iridel reached out a paw and pulled the door.
It opened.